Mexico weekly ledger., 1887-01-06
~foTnrKrNGIvrw INNOCENT.
The Thief In Mexic0 With the Re0dle-
The Express Robbery Cleared Up

~ "AA A"S wv "a 49, 49,
rest. They were all amateprs and
aihfestAbbys. Wirtrock, alias Cum
mings, is only % years old and has
shown Extraordinary nerve. His
confederates weakened and he went
through With TIE Job alone. Fother-
ipghaIr; slxsagstft, lis innocent. The
Pinkertons arrested the gang in a
fast hoesse,atinC Aicsss'Aahd deserve
much credit for the neat manner In
w nj I tux xEQailhasaia I'd ID ilRe and
recovered mosb ofathe money. The
following is -Wrttroek's confession
ctr;4eTtsetP.t sAt aiisssiD"i sf' r4s'I
The idea Of rqbbbihnisI, h, ". express
car was s'e conceived civ b;y wittrrosek, last
June. He was brought up as a boy
fl the saline inte5is;hhb'oirhooid WITH Haight
and knew tie ffo1Nriun,er; express employee
well. Haight visited Chicago early
tfast summer and there met his old
Friend, Fred Wittrock, He worked
with him for a time III the coal yard,
and, while thus engaged, informed
| Wittfock OF his hard luck in losing
his position with the express com
pany. He felt very bitter. against
the company claiming that he had
Ibeen iii unfairly treated, in having: been
unfairly treated, in having been dis.
charged on a charge Of opening pack
fages. The pair engaged IN a CONVEX
sation On the subject Of express rob.
berries and spoke Of those that had
taken place the past years, Haighl
had some of the letter-heads of thu
company in his possession and wai
familiar with the signatures of the
foifcfal. The pair then decided to
get some imitation letter heads struck
off and forge an order to the messen
ger, whose name they were to FIND
out later. The proprietor of the
printing establishment was asked fo2,
the use Of the room for the night BY
Wittrock, who explained that he
wanted to get up some election pa
tperrss. After some persuasion tn,
proprietor gave them the room, bu'
they afterwards found out that j
was not an easy matter to do tn
printing themselves, and they accord
ingly called in the service of a prac
tied printer. Wittrock explained t.
the printer that Haight a very poo:
and wanted to go to Kansas. City
He had no means to get there, bu
could fix up a pass if he could get al
imitation of the official letter-head o
the Adams Express company. Th'
printer thought the request a peeulia
one, but finally consented to do tn
E r ~ { .f.r.tt - . - ---F. : {
work, Wittrock agreeing in the mean
to give him $3.50 for his time. The,
then showed him
A SAMPLE LETTER-HEAD
and asked him to print some exactl.
like it. When the letter-heads wer,
finished Wittrock visited st. Louis
This vas in September. He ,fQunt
his Omaha friend at work in tn
depot and spoke to him about takine
part in the robbery, but he declinee
to have anything whatever to do will
1t. Wittrock then left him, taking
care not to tell him anything abou
the change of the plan. He thel
wrote to Oscar Cook relative to tn
matter, and in reply was Informed
that the latter was sick and coulc
be Of no assistance. Wittrock thel
went to Pacific, No., a point abou
50 miles from st. Louis, which
Haight suggested was a good place
to leave The train. From Pacific ht
walked to the bank of the Missouri
river, over a very rough. road. Or
his arrival he selected a dry bed OF
| the river bank where he could con
ceal a skiff and other property H.,
WITHOUT ANY DANGER OF DETECTION
He had previously looked over .
map Of Missouri and concluded thai
the best way would, be to. leave The
train at Pacific and make his way te
the river and then take a skift TO,
Alton. AsdosAr' cook''iand hi.
Omaha friend had backed out Of tbs
robbery rhlHe1ns began. ia. Lock around
for another, aeoafaIecate,n He then
thought of Thos. Weaver, q Chicago
neighhorcwlloaerw Wife Gwas engaged In
the launatSmbHsfitsH.!' tHss sS.is5iteet
| Weaver aanaaa}! f. f'iii IA , Vial ai pn e. !esass J,
mat4t1eer. ithwas 70. oEQah, AN, fxpresssesl
and, seepre,anQugh s:beodle'''ntotslas
a lifetime. Weaver"etahusisssicall.
! entered nth the'" rratttr,: ana @ae
reddyafJ" btgih at ohte.s"TThiesy' fhfr
IEttI ariii 1nts+nIHtst ai"ip
PgfffhaaisffeHddb an 2al St,s army, s,lmm pskef'
Haight bad a shotgun, and WittpecI
concluded that the ma slet with plen-
ttyaef :Aammunition' would complete
| the military stores!"i The forged let.
ters were then eomRl%al Ryi Haight,
and On Tuesday, OctoheE ~, oWia'
rock loft GTRRnHGfaso in COMPANY, With
WsaaAyieGr for ST. Louis. On Arriving
in st. Louis the paF went direct ia
81 fharlef, arrigipg there On We'd
Ebnesaaqy, .T1hezlseGnredr board ,intl,a
rGeEEm1sff4p boarding honseathe landlord
Ithkking efharge dpf, the guns. WHICH
'yeYgee sEsysRpedlupt. in rubber covers.
They then ,RWcAased q lrsHpplyt Of
food and a set Of eqQkRg, Antepsils1 q
[. THE REMAINED IN ST. CHARLES
Ihhan oI0bbsf ~ Wien FtffssS,% sl4iipppsssal
pthssi l KalAises IA. st. Lewis oEsEt,tAe
tn I